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17 December 2013

Article 1 of the 1951 Geneva Convention furnishes a common and universal definition applicable to all refugees irrespective of their state of origin. However, I will argue that international refugee law—or at least its key principle, the principle of non-refoulement—introduces a morally arbitrary criterion for determining the responsibilities of states: a refugee’s proximity to an international boundary. The role of this criterion, moreover, is one factor in explaining why the current refugee regime is in crisis. Acknowledging the desirability of moving towards a less partial international system, I will outline some of the difficulties associated with creating an international system where all refugees matter to us and matter equally.

17 December 2013

In this paper, Dr Gibney examines the relationship between increasing government restrictiveness towards asylum seekers and the growing entanglement of states in human rights law that restrains their activities. The argument he makes about the relationship between the two applies best to European states, encumbered by European and EU human rights legislation, especially after the Treaty of Amsterdam. However, much of this paper is of broader relevance to other liberal democratic states, and the examples he uses draw freely from non-European countries.

17 December 2013

In this paper, Dr Gibney examines the relationship between increasing government restrictiveness towards asylum seekers and the growing entanglement of states in human rights law that restrains their activities. The argument he makes about the relationship between the two applies best to European states, encumbered by European and EU human rights legislation, especially after the Treaty of Amsterdam. However, much of this paper is of broader relevance to other liberal democratic states, and the examples he uses draw freely from non-European countries.

17 December 2013

This article examines the policy responses of Western countries in the realm of asylum. The authors begin by explaining the reasons why the asylum issue has made its way up the political agendas of liberal democratic countries in recent years. While applications for asylum have risen in the last two decades, we also highlight the way rights-based constraints and financial costs have contributed to controversy around the issue. The authors then examine in detail the major policy responses of states to asylum, grouping them into four main categories: measures aiming to prevent access to state territory, measures to deter arrivals, measures to limit stay, and measures to manage arrival. Moving then to explore the efficacy of these measures, the authors consider the utility of policy making from the viewpoints of states, asylum
seekers and refugees, and international society. The article concludes with the presentation of four new directions in which policies could move in order better to square the professed interests of Western states with the needs of refugees for protection.

17 December 2013

17 December 2013

In recent years states across the world have boosted their legal and institutional capacity to deport noncitizens residing on their territory, including failed asylum seekers, “illegal” migrants, and convicted criminals. Scholars have analyzed this development primarily through the lens of immigration control. Deportation has been viewed as one amongst a range of measures designed to control entrance, distinguished primarily by the fact that it is exercised inside the territory of the state. But deportation also has broader social and political effects. It provides a powerful way through which the state reminds noncitizens that their presence in the polity is contingent upon acceptable behavior. Furthermore, in liberal democratic states immunity from deportation is one of the key privileges that citizens enjoy that distinguishes them from permanent residents. This book examines the historical, institutional and social dimensions of the relationship between deportation and citizenship in liberal democracies. Contributions also include analysis of the formal and informal functions of administrative immigration detention, and the role of the European Parliament in the area of irregular immigration and borders. The book also develops an analytical framework that identifies and critically appraises grassroots and sub national responses to migration policy in liberal democratic societies, and considers how groups form after deportation and the employment of citizenship in this particular context, making it of interest to scholars and international policy makers alike.

28 February 2018

The region of Latin America and the Caribbean has long demonstrated hospitality towards those fleeing conflict and persecution within the region and from further afield. Faced with newer causes of displacement, such as the violence of organised criminal gangs and the adverse effects of climate change, Latin American and Caribbean countries are continuing to expand and adapt their protection laws and mechanisms in order to address these and other situations of displacement and to meet the differing needs of affected populations. This issue contains 31 articles on Latin America and the Caribbean, plus five ‘general’ articles on other topics.

28 February 2018

With 2018 marking the 7th anniversary of the Syrian conflict, this issue of FMR explores new insights and continuing challenges relating to the displacement of millions of Syrians both internally and in neighbouring countries. What we learn from responses to this large-scale, multi-faceted displacement is also relevant to other situations of displacement beyond as well as within the Middle East. FMR 57 contains 27 articles on ‘Syrians in displacement’, plus six ‘general’ articles on other topics.

20 November 2013

This RSC Policy Briefing explores the links between reconciliation, forced migration and transitional justice, bringing into focus the ways in which displaced persons figure in transitional justice processes, and the potential implications of this involvement for reconciliation. The paper addresses the interlinked conceptual and practical challenges associated with trying to advance reconciliation in post-conflict societies affected by large-scale displacement, and highlights some of the ways in which policymakers and practitioners have sought to support reconciliation between displaced populations and other actors. It analyses some of the assumptions that have characterised these efforts, and suggests ways in which the challenges surrounding the interface of displacement, transitional justice and reconciliation may be more effectively navigated.

20 November 2013

This RSC Policy Briefing Paper considers the ‘stabilisation approach’ adopted by both the international community and national government to address the continued insecurity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Considering stabilisation also offers a way of conceptualising and engaging with the root causes of displacement. Political implications of the stabilisation agenda are brought into sharper relief by focusing on a single question: stabilisation by whom and for whom? Rather than continuing to support the State unconditionally, the brief calls on international actors to strengthen and exercise their combined leverage in critical priority areas that together form a comprehensive ‘road map’ to long-term peace and stability following the elections.